A fascinating psychology game for 4+ players

A social experiment with a simple premise.

• Published: 30 September 2023
• Games,
• Math

Grab the following materials:

• N friends
• N sticky notes
• N pencils (with erasers)
• N - 2 sheets of paper

Write the integers [1, N - 2] on the sheets of paper. Then place them on the floor in a sensible arrangement, and give each player a sticky note and a pencil.

Gameplay

Explain to your friends these points:

1. 10 rounds will be played. In each round, a player can either win 1 point or 0 points. The player with the most points at the end wins.
2. At the start of each round, each player must secretly write an integer in the range [1, N -2] on their sticky note.^[1]
3. Then, everyone reveals their numbers at once, and everyone goes to stand on the paper with the number they picked. If they are standing alone on that sheet of paper, they win 1 point; otherwise, they win 0 points.
4. Players are allowed to discuss and negotiate strategies with other players.

Strategy

The goal is obvious: find a number that no one else will pick. But what's the best way to do that? After watching my friends play a couple of rounds, I've noticed a couple of strategies that emerge:

• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: Picks the same number every time.
• The Opportunist: Randomly chooses between the numbers that weren't chosen much last round.
• The Real Estate Agent: Randomly chooses between the numbers that were chosen most frequently last round.
• The Mathematician: Randomly chooses a number each round.

It's quite fun to watch people argue over what numbers they want other people to write down. What strategy do you find yourself using?

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